How to Start a Parking Lot Business That’s Filled With Cars in No Time

Are you interested in starting your own parking lot business but don’t know where to begin? Is your out of the box business method a guarantee for success?

If you are considering this startup business venture you shouldn’t go into it without fully understanding what it takes to get the business off the ground.

Take a look at everything you will need to know to start your own parking lot business.

Create a Business Plan

Before you get ahead of yourself looking for the perfect location for your lot, you need to have a business plan in place.

In order to create a strong business plan, you have to understand your competition in the potential area of your lot and be realistic about your expectations of how successful the business can be.

Create a spreadsheet of forecasted projections for revenue, expenses, and profits in order to gain potential investors.

You will also want to set specific goals for each quarter and year, within a specific time frame, to show these investors that you are serious about the opportunity this business can provide.

Establish the Legal Side of Things

Once you have created your business plan what is the next important step? Taking care of all of the legal paperwork you will need to legitimately create the business.

This will involve setting the business up as a legal entity, registering for taxes, and opening a business bank account. You don’t want to come under fire from Uncle Sam simply because your paperwork isn’t in order.

The parking lot business will also need any required permits and licenses to be up to date, or fines can be levied against the business.

The final major step in establishing the legal side of the business is to apply for insurance. This insurance will protect you from lawsuits from customers and potential employees.

If you are in a state with workers compensation then you will be required to apply for business insurance, but either way, it is very important to protect yourself.

Receive the Funding Needed to Start

You don’t want to invest all of your hard earned money into the startup on your own. The smart route will be to find an investor (or group of investors) to finance most of the expenses in creating this business.

However, sometimes there aren’t any investors willing to take a chance on you. If that happens all is not lost. You can still go to your local bank and speak to someone there about receiving a loan to start the business.

You can also go to a loan officer and see if they would be willing to help you with the upfront costs of starting the parking lot business.

If both of those options are not available then look up your local small business administration, as they tend to provide startups with potential loan opportunities through various lenders.

Find an Excellent Location

The location of your parking lot will be the biggest determining factor in how successful your business will be. Are you looking for a location downtown where there is a lot of heavy traffic?

Maybe you want to have your lot in an area that isn’t surrounded by competition, which will allow you to grab all of the potential customers in the area.

One hidden secret to finding a good location? Hire a commercial realtor that can get you a location near a harbor port. Why would this be a hidden gem?

When people go out of town on boats they need to store their cars somewhere, and that place should be in your lot.

Hire Smart Employees

Once you have the location in place the next major step will be to hire excellent employees.

Depending on where you live there may not be an opportunity to hire the cream of the crop, but when it comes to ensuring the safety of vehicles, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Conducting background checks is always a smart hiring practice in any business, and some of the key things to be aware of would be crimes involving theft, major incidents resulting in an arrest (fleeing the scene of an accident, DUI/DWI).

You also want to be able to trust that your team members can get the job done when you aren’t around. If you decide to utilize a parking payment machine they should know how to operate it and troubleshoot it for paying customers.

Clean driving records should be a must for all employees, in case a car needs to be moved for a specific reason.

When it comes to hiring for security you can decide whether it’s best and affordable to hire armed or unarmed security guards.

Armed security guards will come at a higher salary but will be able to forcefully stave off most potential dangers, while unarmed security will be cheaper.

Promote and Market Your Lot Everywhere

Whenever a new business starts out the smart ones run excellent promotional campaigns to get customers in. For your lot, this could include a buy one get one free deal or a cash incentive for referrals from other customers.

Utilizing social media will also be a smart tool to reach out to the younger audience. If you market your business right you could open on your first day to a lot full of reservations!

What Will You Do When Starting Your Parking Lot Business?

So now that you have looked at some of the best tips for starting your parking lot business what steps will you take to get it off the ground?